With the midterm national and local elections just five days away, the usual rampant vote-buying has been happening since two weeks ago not only in Catanduanes but also in other areas across the country.
According to the Commission on Elections, the Facebook page of its Committee on Kontra Bigay has received so far 309 complaints of vote buying and abuse of state resources (ASR).
Calabarzon led the regions in terms of the number of reports with 64, followed by Central Luzon with 54, National Capital Region with 52, Mimaropa with 20 and Bicol region with 20, with this island province most likely accounting for a fourth of the latter complaints.
Majority of reported vote-buying acts involved distribution of cash and assorted goods or valuable objects, with the subject candidates issued show cause orders by the committee to allow them to explain their side.
Of the 213 candidates and party-list groups issued the orders, 130 were allegedly involved in vote buying/selling while 67 involved ASRs, the report stated.
In Catanduanes, at least one partylist group, aspirants for provincial board member, a candidate for mayor, and several bets for seats in the municipal councils have been visited by local COMELEC officials who served the notices in person.
Most of the alleged violations cited information provided by concerned citizens and backed by photos of the distributed cash or goods with campaign stickers or leaflets.
Of course, those who can afford legal counsel can easily explain their side by claiming that their opponents were responsible for the ‘false’ report.
The number of candidates issued with similar orders is expected to rise further by May 12, 2025.
Under Resolution No. 11104, the COMELEC by itself can initiate complaints for the election offense of vote buying and vote selling as well as acts constituting ASR.
Any citizen, political party or accredited citizens arm of the Commission can also file complaints, which must be supported by affidavits of complaining witnesses.
Once the complaint is filed with the concerned COMELEC office, it will be referred to the Law Department for the conduct of preliminary investigation by the investigating officer who will then either recommend the dismissal of the complaint or the filing of necessary information with the Commission En Banc.
With a congressional candidate leading all vote buyers with amounts ranging from P1,000 to P2,000 each voter, it would be safe to assume at majority of the 271 aspirants who filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COC) for 121 elective positions in Catanduanes would hand over cash or goods to voters, hoping that this would translates to votes in their favor on election day.
But past polls have shown that this strategy does now work all the time, as shown by the sad experience of one gubernatorial aspirant who gave double the amount of her opponent but still lost, and one mayor who distributed envelopes with several thousand pesos but was miserably defeated by a rival who had just P500 each.
This time, will the active Kontra Bigay committee actually deter vote buying and vote selling especially for the top posts where hundreds of millions of pesos would be spent by the candidates?
In the past decades, no one has been convicted of vote buying or vote selling in Catanduanes, with the lone accused cleared of any wrongdoing years ago
In the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), 1,000 barangay and SK officials were charged for buying votes and at least 253 of them were not allowed to assume their posts due to pending cases against them.
It may be a consolation to the 2025 candidates issued with show cause orders that none of the 1,000 BSKE bets accused of the same offense has been convicted until now.